On card stock, this is actually something I've been struggling with a bit right now, since I just got the material samples for this deck:

Right now, they're on 350 GSM stock (compared to 300 GSM that regular-sized playing cards are on), we're planning to move up to 400GSM, but I'm not positive if this will make a notable difference.

I've seen card stock that is definitely thicker than what we're looking at, but it's either been extremely glossy (clearly reflect light sources), or low grade (easy to crease), so I'm not sure how practical heavier cards are.

The cards have a plastic gloss coat- to clarify, this doesn't mean shiny, they're more reflective than newsprint but substantially less reflective than even the dullest magazine I could find around, I think the treatment is the same used for most card games (like Magic the Gathering or nicer board games).

We also received linen coating, which is the style that traditional playing cards tend to have, with a faint "waffle" or fabric texture: the material is more durable (resistant to creases and stains) and better for handling cards (less resistance when shuffling, more grip). On a subjective level, we also thought it had a nicer weight, and looking at my old decks of cards, I actually like how they wear better (they tend to stain slightly instead of getting rough). We're considering using linen coating if we can afford it.

However, what are people's thoughts on material? Does anyone have an objection to linen coating? Alternatively, if anyone reading this has printed a deck, is there any advice you can offer?

Thanks!

A beautiful deck.

I love the quality and style of your work. Your talent and the research you've put into it are evident, and I particularly appreciate that you picked up the stations/classes in life (military/clergy/merchant/farmer) in the suits, which echoes without attempting to duplicate the 5 unsuited sets of 10 & 'stations in life' theme depicted in the first set of 10 in the Mantegna tarocchi of the 15th century.

Personally, I'd attribute blue (the color of logic) to military/swords/spades and red (the color of spirit) to clergy/cups/chalices/hearts. Which I see you've done!

I'm excited to see what you have done with the Major Arcana.

Speaking only for myself, I expect my cards to feel like cards. This is Tarot, not a child's game of "Memory". I much prefer linen finish playing cards & CCGs to gloss finish; in my experience, linen finish handles and wears better. I also feel like linen finish is easier to break in.

A tarot sized deck (70 mm x 121 mm, up to 80 cards) on 310 gsm linen finish ("waffle" texture) is $16.50 USD per deck in qty 1-15 decks with no set up charge. I've had no experience with them, but the price looks to me to be not bad for a sample run?

If you opted to do the initial run with the Minor Arcana only, the expense for up to 60 cards in a tarot sized deck is $12.30 USD per deck in qty 1-15 decks.

If you didn't see, the majors are in the video. It's just taken me a bit to get around to doing a sheet of them like the suits, because (due to some poor planning) the major arcana are now on two different computers, so compiling a collage will take a little longer.

Glad you made the connection w/ the stations, we've actually talked about putting together a Hofämterspiel deck (which we came across while researching for this one), but ultimately decided that it was too obscure to be practical for a first project. It would be interesting to try it, given how much more open it is due to the same obscurity/lack of information that made it impractical (for now).

On the deck material, that's a great find- while it's not practical for us to do for the whole decks, we've been looking at the possibility of doing variant designs in a limited quantity, and that looks like a good avenue to approach a small set (assuming, of course, the quality is similar)- one of the limitations we were finding was a place that would do a small run of tarot-sized cards with a linen finish, so I'm glad that you pointed that out, thanks (again).

Thanks, daphne, I was personally really hoping to reach those boxes, because I've always disliked how often the tuck flaps on regular card boxes stick when you try to open them, and I ended up damaging the corners on many a set (though more recently I've learned to cut wedges out, which makes them stick less often).

I hadn't even thought about magnetic lids- cool idea. We've got a fair amount of stuff planned in the budget, but I'll see if our printer can handle those.

Thanks, on the Squirrel- I always think that medieval illustrations of animals tend towards the creepy and/or wily side, so it was a lot of fun to try to replicate the sensibility. Also, I hardly ever get to draw animals.

We're now able to improve our bags with a snazzy crest, and offer more prints. Also, for those interested in the game that started it all, the decks will now include a printed copy of the game rules, and the PDF of additional rules has more games in it.

Thanks for the confidence/support! We're pretty blown away by how much support we've gotten, we were (pretty obviously) not expecting to get more than around $5-6,000 and now it's looking likely we'll pass that, so we've been talking about what else we can do to make the decks awesome

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